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Building Climate and Disaster Resilience in Africa

The inaugural African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET) – Africa Hydromet Forum will bring together representatives from governments, public and private sectors, regional entities, development agencies and civil society to provide strategic insight to improve hydrological, meteorological and early-warning services to achieve climate and disaster resilience as part of a larger sustainable development strategy. Co-hosted by the African Union Commission and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Forum will build consensus and momentum to modernize weather, water, and climate information services for sustainable development in Africa.

Goals

Strengthen regional and national leadership to improve hydromet services

Help develop concrete actions at regional and national levels for improving hydromet services and their delivery

Background

Africa's development, climate and resilience agendas are inextricably linked. Hydro-meteorological disasters that include floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, lightning strikes and landslides continue to cause heavy damage and loss to livelihoods – an estimated 90% of all disasters on the continent are weather and climate driven. The economic cost of recorded weather related disasters in Africa in the last 20 years is estimated at US$10 billion. Given the increasing climate variability, these disasters are projected to increase in frequency and intensity.

If left unaddressed, the disaster events will jeopardize Africa’s development gains and aspirations for industrialization and growth. Improving hydrological, meteorological (hydromet) and climate services is critical to strengthening climate and disaster resilience across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Forum will provide a platform to position hydromet strengthening as a pillar of Africa’s climate-resilient development and adaptation planning. It will demonstrate the benefits of doing so across a range of sectors including agriculture, water, transport, civil aviation, natural resource management, environment, energy and disaster risk management. The Forum will draw on best practices and lessons from implementation of existing strategies and will propose concrete actions to address the weather, water and climate challenges facing Africa.